I am a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous. Sober, by the Grace of God, since July 24, 1984.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Saturday Morning

It is a beautiful autumn morning. To be followed by a beautiful autumn day. It is supposed to get into the mid 70's this afternoon, which is a bit too warm for me. But the leaves are in their glory and this place is just gorgeous! (the photo is from my run last Sunday - it was raining and overcast - today should be sunny.)

Today I am going to a one day retreat on contemplative prayer. The keynote speaker is a man whose work I have followed and admired for a very long time. I am quite excited about getting to see him in person and I hope to learn a lot.

I took a mini-tour of some blogs this morning. I don't believe I left one comment on any of them! I am struck by the difference between people who have decided they are not going to drink anymore, dammit! And those who have reached a bottom and have humbly asked for help. Maybe it is a question of approaches, maybe a question of bottoms, maybe a question of personal temperament. I think until you reach that bottom and humbly admit that you are unable to conquer alcohol, you have little chance of recovery. Self-will is not the answer - if it was, we would have quit drinking on our own years before we caused the destruction we did.

Thanks to the grace of a loving God, I was led to the welcoming arms of the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous - and there you gently took me and put me back together. Thank you!

13 comments:

LOL-70's are a little to COOL for me!I don't know if we can peek into the world of non alcoholics who decide that they are not going to drink anymore....but I think they are very smart people to be able to see a problem and address it. I guress the JOY of recovery is saved for us who were beyond human aid.

"... I think until you reach that bottom and humbly admit that you are unable to conquer alcohol, you have little chance of recovery. Self-will is not the answer - if it was, we would have quit drinking on our own years before we caused the destruction we did.... "

It seems to me it's just your definition of "hitting bottom" of "recovery" and "conquering" that perhaps leads to your conclusion. And apparently this was the only way that worked for you. There are many ways to live a life and deal with it, including how to deal with alcohol. I am constantly struck by the all-or-nothing attitude of AA people. It doesn't sound like they have "conquered"anything. It's more just keeping it at bay. And that's fine if that's the only thing that works for them. Let other people grapple with alcohol if you will. There are SO many shades of gray. Black and white is NOT the only viable solution.